About this project

$5,689

pledged of $5,500 goal

192

backers

The Product

µGO is a device that lets you extend your Android mobile and tablet's storage capacity infinitely. µGO provides both an SD/SDHC and a microSD card slot which you can use to transfer data to and from your mobile device.

µGO also lets you power/charge your device and sync with your computer without unplugging µGO from your device. µGO achieves this by providing an auxiliary microUSB port build in.

Render of µGO Expandable Storage Device

When you connect µGO to your mobile device, it reads µGO as an external USB storage device and mounts the SD/microSD card. You can then use your default file/image/video manager to browse through your files or transfer data between your device and µGO.

Current Production Dimensions (We are working on slimming μGO down even further):

µGO provides fast transfer speed. You can transfer data between your mobile device and µGO at the same speed* as you would do with a card reader connected to your computer.

*The transfer speed greatly depends on the class type of card you use.

Placement

µGO is sleek and compact. It is meant to stick onto the back of your device with or without a case. µGO uses a special micro suction tape to stick itself to your device without leaving a residue upon removal. The micro suction tape used is a high quality tape and can be used to re-attach µGO to your mobile device up to 1,000 times. We will also use a flat and flexible micro USB cable to conform to the shape of your mobile device. This is visible in the render.

Placement of µGO Expandable storage device

Supported Devices

Most of the latest android devices are supported. We have tested µGO with the following devices:

Samsung Galaxy S3

Samsung Galaxy S4

Samsung Note

Samsung Note 2

Samsung Note 3

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Samsung Note 10.1

Samsung Note 10.1 2014 Edition

Nexus 5

Nexus 7

HTC One

Sony Xperia

Nexus 10

LG Optimus G PRO

Motorola Droid

Motorola X

Asus MeMo Pad

Toshiba Excite

Most of 2013 - 2014 Android phones with Android 4 and later

Due to limited resources, we could not test with all available phones and tablets. So far it works with most Android 4.1 and later phones out of the box, while phones with Android 4.0 and earlier would need to be rooted.

Nexus 4 is supported when the auxiliary microUSB cable is plugged in, as Nexus 4 does not supply power to the USB devices, an external power source needs to power the USB device for Nexus 4 to detect.

This demonstration shows µGO at work:

My Story

I am an engineer and photography is my passion. I do a lot of traveling, and use my tablet to store pictures as my laptop can be too bulky to carry. While photographing, I shoot RAW and JPG with a secondary card, then review all the pictures on my tablet afterwards. Unfortunately, not all cameras are compatible with both microSD and SD sized cards, so I wanted something that could accommodate both.

I searched the internet high and low for a reader that would allow me to use an SD card on my camera and an microSD card adapter for my tablet. Since I could not find one, I came up with the idea behind µGO Expandable Storage Device.

After creating this device, I used it for few months on and off my shoots. Many people were curious as to where I got it. Once I explained that I had to make it myself, they immediately asked for one as well! Here on, I discovered that there was a market for this device, but I was lacking the design skill to make it more sell-able.

I collaborated with Daniel and after eight months of tinkering with the idea and plenty of research and development, we finally came up with the design that you see here. The chipset that we settled on works on all Android devices with 4.1.2 OS installed. Most phones and tablets that we've tested with older Android versions work without rooting.

So this is how far we have come! Now we want to place µGO into your hands, but we need your help backing this project so we can finally begin production!

So please help us get this product into production and in your hands by becoming a backer today.

Prototype

Case and PCB

Internal Circuitry

Anticipated Schedule

March 1st: Production starts on sample product.

March 20th: Testing and RnD on improvements on external case and internal circuitry

May 20th: Finalize the product design and internal circuitry

June 10th: Production starts on first batch.

July 20th: Production starts on Second batch.

August 1st: First batch of μGO will be shipped (early bird special).

August 10th: Production starts on the Special Limited Edition Aluminum µGO Expandable storage device

Sept 1st: Second batch of µGO will be shipped.

Oct 15th: Special Edition µGO will start shipping.

November 15th: Shipping starts for the rest of the µGo Expandable storage devices contributors.

While these schedules are tentative, we will try to stay on track as much as possible.

Update: February 8th 2014

We have updated the design. Here are the renders of the new design. The 3D printing will take few days but will keep updated with the new design is printed.

View on the back of a Phone

Risks and challenges

We believe in customer satisfaction, good will and quality. We will do our best to use the best quality raw materials to make the best product possible. μGO Devices is still building the manufacturing resources necessary for an in-demand product. Currently partnerships with manufacturing specialists and production facilities are in the works and will be in place for timely product shipments. μGO Devices plans to be transparent about production timetables, customer expectations and quality of the product.

Since our last release, We realized that our funding goal was too high and we would not be able to achieve that goal leaving all our contributors who really needed the product, disappointed. So we decided to reboot the funding with lowered target, so we can get uGo Expandable Storage device in the hands of contributors who really need it. Since our target was lowered we have a new manufacturer who has agreed to manufacture the product at lower volume adding a premium, so we had to increase the price by a small percentage to accommodate that premium without any compromise on quality.

Due to limited resources and the wide variety of hardware availability, we cannot guarantee μGO will work on your device, but we have tested μGO with the most popular devices running Android 4.1.2 and 4.0 and will continue testing more devices as they become available. Updates will be displayed on our Kickstarter page and our website http://mugo.ugodevices.com. If you wish to keep yourself updated, please subscribe for email updates through our website.

We were not able to get this working with Nexus 4 devices by itself. Nexus 4 devices need a secondary power supply to get this working as Nexus 4 does not provide power through its micro USB pin to power external devices.

We will be providing a detachable micro USB cable to be replaced if broken. 2 micro USB cables will be supplied with the device each with back facing and front facing micro USB cables for relevant phones.

We will be providing a detachable micro USB cable to be replaced if broken. 2 micro USB cables will be supplied with the device each with back facing and front facing micro USB cables for relevant phones.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $45 or more
About $45

If you love this product, why don't you gift one to your friend, spouse, parent or Sibling? For pledging $45 you will get one Aluminum and one Plastic µGO. Both will come in separate packaging specially designed for gifting. Now you decide which you want to keep and which you want to gift.